Hamilton urged to stick to his ‘refreshing’ approach

Hamilton has been criticised this season for his aggressive tactics.

But Virgin Racing team principal Booth believes the young man who often slept in the spare room of his Rotherham home while driving Formula Renault for his Manor Motorsport team in 2002 and 2003, should not curb his natural instincts.

“Lewis is driving fantastic this season,” said Booth this week, ahead of today’s practice sessions for the weekend’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

“It will cost him world championships the way he goes about it but it’s bloody refreshing isn’t it?

“His values have stayed the same since when he was in Formula Renault – on every corner in every race he is the fastest.

“It’s very endearing and great to see. He was a little bit robust in Monaco, but the guy tries to overtake, he tries to win races.

“He hasn’t got the fastest car out there at the moment but he still tries to win the races and you can’t knock him for that.

“Lewis won’t accept being third or fourth, he’ll just keep pushing to the end. He’s a born racer.”

The battle at Silverstone this weekend will rage on between Hamilton, his McLaren team-mate Jenson Button and the two Red Bulls of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel, the latter who has won six of the eight grands prix raced this season.

“There’s a good chance of a British winner this weekend, particularly if the weather’s in and out,” observed Booth.

“Jenson Button seems to go very well when it’s half and half – his driving in Canada was just fantastic.”

Down towards the bottom of the grid, Dinnington’s Virgin arrive at their home grand prix without a planned aerodynamic upgrade but ready to usher in a new dawn.

Their technical partnership with McLaren began this week and, for Booth, his second visit to Silverstone as an F1 boss marks a watershed moment.

His team might still be at the back of the grid, their Yorkshire roots may soon be severed, and his Russian paymasters at Marussia Motors may have assumed control of the purse strings and decision-making.

But at Silverstone this weekend, the 55-year-old from Rotherham will allow himself time to drink in the atmosphere and appreciate how far his team has come.

“I don’t think I fully appreciated the British Grand Prix experience last year,” said the man whose Manor Motorsport operation run out of Dinnington provided the impetus for the fulfilment of a Formula 1 dream.

“It was such a mess with reliability and growing the structure of the team that it will be great to go there this year and appreciate we’re at Silverstone.

“It’s the biggest race of the year, not only for us but for everyone. It’s going to be a real buzz being there.”

On the track the picture may not have changed as quickly as they would have liked with the Yorkshire team still among the backmarkers.

But in the 12 months since their Silverstone debut, Virgin Racing have attracted major investment from Marussia and secured a partnership with McLaren, one of the most famous and successful marques in Formula 1 history.

“We looked like a circus at times last year, Shanghai being the particular low point last year,” reflected Booth on the reliability issues in their rookie season which were at times embarrassing.

“But Singapore last year was the first time I looked up and enjoyed it.

“And now I feel I can enjoy my home grand prix. As a team we now look right, the team operates well, we deserve to be there. It’s become enjoyable.

“We concentrate on doing things right what we can control. The speed of the car up until now has been out of our control. The things we can do right we work very hard at.

“And now (with McLaren and Marussia) we’ve got a real plan to move forward. It’s a bright future.”

As the team has evolved, so has Booth’s role. His title may be team principal, and the pitwall may be where he gets his kicks, but Booth acknowledges running a team is about more than making sure his two cars go round the track.

“As we put the pieces in place to control the racing my role has become more business-orientated, which is not where I want to be but it’s a necessity,” he said.

“I still get a buzz being sat on the pitwall on a Sunday afternoon, being part of the decision-making process.

“That’s still the real buzz.”

And being on the pitwall at the remodified Silverstone is enough to set pulses racing.

“The new pitlane is fantastic,” said Booth. “Nobody can ever complain about Silverstone now. It’s got a world-leading pitlane, it’s a fantastic circuit. The access is better than anywhere else we race.

“Silverstone is set fair for a good future.

For some reason Silverstone has had to be better than most European circuits.

“We still go to Monza, Monaco and Barcelona, and Silverstone’s old facilities were equal to them.

“It’s very brave of Damon Hill and the team to bring it up to world specification, and the circuit now compares with China, Abu Dhabi, the cutting edge cirtuits.

“It’s definitely up there with them.”